Wayne Law patent clinic benefits students, local businesses

The Patent Procurement Law Clinic at Wayne State University Law School gives students interested in patent law a major advantage, according to local attorneys practicing in the intellectual property field.

“Wayne Law has the only patent procurement clinic in Michigan, so if you want to be a patent attorney, you have to look at Wayne Law first,” said patent attorney Christopher Darrow, who earned his law degree at Wayne Law in 2000 and his master of laws in intellectual property law at George Washington University in 2004.

He’s a shareholder with Young Basile Hanlon & MacFarlane PC, a firm that specializes in intellectual property law, and a special master and technical advisor to federal judges on patent cases. He also was instrumental in developing the patent clinic last year at Wayne Law, which is the only school in Michigan — and among only 25 law schools nationwide — chosen by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a participating patent clinic certified for the office’s pilot program. Selected schools were praised for their intellectual property curriculum, their outreach to the community and their comprehensive client services.